Tag Archives: recipe

Toast Tuesday: in a jam

14 Tuesday Mar 2017

Posted by in Toast Tuesday

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I have been exploring fermentation in many ways lately. I’ve got so many kobucha scobies that I’ve started naming them. I’m trying to eat more good yogurt and probiotics so I’ve started making yogurt again. I’ve said it before, but there is just something so satisfying about creating something from scratch.


I really like good plain, tart yogurt. I’ve not gotten mine to the tartness level I’d like, but I’m working on that. I usually just put a spoonful of good jam on top and swirl in it. My neighbor has gotten me addicted to this awesome and expensive fig jam. After going through a jar in a week, I figured there has to be better way.

I recall my step-mother makes jam without pectin, but aside from just watching the process, I have never made my own jam from scratch. When I started googling, I found you could use chia seeds as part of the thickening in lieu of sugar and pectin. I love my chia seeds, so that’s what I did this week.


I mostly followed a recipe I found online, but made a few tiny modifications, like reducing the sugar and increased the chia seeds slightly. I also cooked the fruit a little longer in hopes a getting a slightly thicker jam. The result is a really fresh berry flavor that tasted just like the berries of a homemade berry cobbler. Next time I’m going to cook a little longer still and add another tablespoon of chia to get it a touch thicker.


Here’s the recipe I followed, with my modifications below the ingredients list.

2 cups chopped fruit
1 to 2 tablespoons lemon juice, to taste
1 to 2 tablespoons honey, agave, maple syrup, or sugar, to taste
2 tablespoons chia seeds, plus more if needed

I had frozen berries in the freezer, a blend of raspberry, blueberry, and blackberry, so I tossed them in the pot frozen and turned on low until they were defrosted.

Added lemon juice (I accidentally added more than called for), brought to a low boil, stirred frequently to prevent berries from scorching and to help the fruit break down. Added 3 tablespoons sugar, stirred to dissolve and cooked about 10-15 minutes.

Added 2 ½ tablespoons chia seeds and stirred in to combine.

Poured into mason jars and allowed to cool to room temperature before sealing lid and putting in the fridge.


This will require refrigeration and should be consumed within a couple weeks. For me, based on my current yogurt and jam consumption, this recipe will work just right and won’t last long enough to go bad. It came together very quickly and easily and I’m really looking forward to trying this when my mother’s figs start to come in this summer.

Thirsty Thursday goes Tiki

19 Friday Feb 2016

Posted by in cocktails, girlfriends

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I hosted Happy Hour at home on Thursday for a bunch of ladies.

a tiki-tacular good time!

 

The evening was so much fun it has been decided this will be a yearly event, if not more often.  I had originally scheduled it during a bitter cold snap, but the day turned out so warm and lovely, we had the patio door open and the fan on.

I seeded a Pandora station and we listened to vintage tiki-type music while discussing cocktails, movies, books, and what the evening’s best dish was (all of it).  I made four cocktails that I had pre-batched and made detailed instructions on what the guests needed to do to keep their glasses full.  This enabled I actually got to enjoy the evening and not just play bartender.

I made the original Mai Tai, Zombie, Black River Punch, and the Tall Blue Drink.  In order for the ladies to consume a little bit of everything, I made the cocktail size a little smaller than normal.  The hit of the evening was the Blue Drink, which ran out first, quickly followed by the Mai Tai.  I have a friend moving this weekend and tomorrow night I’ll be delivering dinner and a wine bottle of Black River Punch.  I’m learning whatever I dislike (sweet) is what the ladies like best.

The Tall Blue Drink is originally from The Great Tiki Drink book, but of course I had to make some modifications. Here is the drink as it was enjoyed at my happy hour.

Lula’s Blue Drink
1 ¼ oz white rum
1 oz coconut syrup
1 oz blue curacao
1 oz pineapple juice
3 oz sour mix
Dash of Elemakule Tiki bitters
Top with coconut La Croix
Garnish with maraschino cherry and umbrella

The original recipe called for the drink to be built in a highball glass, but I used Coco Real in a squeeze bottle.  If you have ever used coconut cream, you know that would have been near impossible.  I made it in a cocktail shaker then poured into the highball and topped with soda.  It made the drink frothy and pretty.

The Mai Tai and Black River punch were my favorites; stronger than the blue drink and much less fruity.  I made one small modification to the Black River Punch with the addition of 3/4 oz pineapple juice.  This was my drink of choice for the evening.

Since we are having a beautiful spring weekend, I have all the windows open and am enjoying the frogs serenade me.  I hope you enjoy your weekend and a little liquid sunshine!

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Word of the Month: Epicure

07 Monday Dec 2015

Posted by in Jewish, words

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I am a foodie.  There’s no doubt about that.  At the moment, I’m a food snob in a barren wasteland of deep fried fat and white bread. I’ve been slow to find other foodies.  Of course, coming from a place where a modest food cart can hide a gourmet delicacy around any corner, I’ve been a little spoiled.  And that is a tremendous understatement.

How ever I look at it, I enjoy food.  I enjoy finding it.  I enjoy preparing it.  I enjoy serving it, and I especially enjoy eating it. Good food is a great pleasure.  I spend more money of my budget on food and beverage.  I am an epicure.

You may have a website of a similar name bookmarked for frequent recipe research as I do.  While the internet and databases are new,  the word epicure dates back to the 1540’s.

I found this etymology of Epicure at Online Etymology Dictionary:

late 14c., “follower of Epicurus,” from Latinized form of Greek Epicouros (341-270 B.C.E.), Athenian philosopher who taught that pleasure is the highest good and identified virtue as the greatest pleasure; the first lesson recalled, the second forgotten, and the name used pejoratively for “one who gives himself up to sensual pleasure” (1560s), especially “glutton, sybarite” (1774). Epicurus’s school was opposed by the stoics, who first gave his name a reproachful sense. Non-pejorative meaning “one who cultivates refined taste in food and drink” is from 1580s.

Merriam-Webster always distills it down to the simplest form:

  • archaic :  one devoted to sensual pleasure
  • one with sensitive and discriminating tastes especially in food or wine

I’m not going to give you the history again, but thought the Oxford English Dictionary gave the best current sense: One who cultivates a refined taste for the pleasures of the table; one who is choice and dainty in eating and drinking.

We see the more modern, and current version of the word begin showing up in the 1700’s.  Of the OED examples, my favorite, and the one I most relate to, is: 1814   Scott Waverley II. vi. 111   As an Epicure protracts, by sipping slowly, the enjoyment of a delicious beverage.

While I’ve been typing, I have been bouncing around websites, sipping my glass of wine, savoring a few pieces of chocolate, and planning the latkes I will be making for dinner.  I can honestly tell you some of the most memorable food experiences I have had are the ones where I’ve been able to sit and savor, and experience the pleasure of dining.  Do you have a favorite food memory like this?  Are you an epicure?

 

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As requested, by both dinner guests and my blogging group, here is the recipe that I followed.  Wouldn’t you know, it is from that website I mentioned earlier.  The changes I made were so small, it was a waste of space to retype the whole thing here.  I’ll just say, I didn’t use matzoh meal, but AP flour.  This was really, the best latke I have ever made.  You have to have good hot oil so they don’t get greasy.  Doing them in cast iron was perfect.

And as always, thank you Eric for the great E.  Please check out his work, it’s so fun and full of love.

So to all a good night and a Happy Hanukkah!

for the love of pumpkin

02 Monday Dec 2013

Posted by in recipes

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While I could easily eat a Costco size pumpkin pie by myself on a daily basis, I would soon be the size of Costco.  So, in an ever evolving desire to be healthy and enjoy the pumpkin pie I love so much, I have been working as much pumpkin into my diet as humanly possible.

Since I have been on a smoothie bender for awhile, I have now developed a pumpkin pie smoothie! Tastes just like I took the pie and squished it up AND made it healthy!

12-2-13 pumpkin smoothie 2

6-7z pumpkin (or half a can if you don’t want to actually measure. Trader’s Joe’s organic canned pumpkin is my favorite)
1/2 banana
1/2 really ripe pear
2T peanut butter
1T Chia seeds
1/2c yogurt
1/4 cup water, milk or juice
1in fresh ginger, peeled and chopped (or 1/2t ground ginger)
1t pumpkin pie spice

The chia seeds really make the smoothie filling and keeps you full longer.  If you leave the chia seeds out, omit the water.  Chia will absorb the liquid and thicken into a gel.  If you like a thinner smoothie, add more water.  This recipe make one 16 ounce smoothie, but doubles and triples easily to make ahead for the week.

12-2-13 pumpkin smoothieDid you know a regular mason jar will fit on your blender?  Test vintage jars before you fill them to make sure the blender ring will screw on.  Sometimes those don’t fit quite right.

FEAST on fresh, homemade pasta

25 Tuesday Sep 2012

Posted by in dinner, recipes

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I finally hit a wall and went into work on Saturday to say I was taking (most of) Sunday off.  Just knowing I was going to have a day free to do whatever was a big relief.  Saturdays at the distillery, the girls and I have gotten in the habit of closing up shop and sitting down to enjoy a cocktail or two before we venture out to our respective evenings.  This week, we all donned an assortment of plaid and went to the New Deal Yelp After Party for Feast week.

An assortment of New Deal cocktails of all varieties, bites of fabulous food, ice cream with booze in it… I was in heaven.  Wait, I’m not sure they allow plaid in heaven.  I have never seen so much plaid!  I really do not own anything plaid and was going to go sans plaid, but one of the girls came to my rescue and I wore a bright plaid polyester number.  I was quite fetching.  and NO, there are no photos!

Sunday, a little hungover and excited for my leisure day, I woke way too early and made a pot of water.  I couldn’t quite put my finger on what was off until I looked over and saw the coffee beans still sitting in the grinder.  Good thing I had time for a do-over.  While the “real” pot brewed, I gave Coe a bath.  I’m not sure where this burst of productivity came from.

I had been gifted tomatoes fresh from the garden, so in honor of my free time, I made fresh pasta.  I’ve been wanting to make it for some time.  I had really forgotten how easy it was to make.  Years ago, I took a ravioli class and I went back to the recipe that had served me so well.  But, I had to tweak it a little bit.

This past week was FEAST (see above after-party).  A week of food events “celebrating Oregon’s bounty”.  Tickets for most events were outrageous, but I could not pass up Mark Bittman.  I’ve mentioned before how much I like him.  He makes you think about your food… where it’s from, what’s in it, and how to make it better.  And that’s just what he talked about.  For anyone who follows him regularly, he didn’t talk about anything new or startling, but just reinforced all the things he writes so passionately about.

I’ve had a recipe of his bookmarked for about a year.  Now with this free time on Sunday, I sort of put it in action.  Bittman’s recipe is for an egg pasta rolled into handkerchiefs with fresh pesto.  I used my tried and true dough recipe but did his technique.

Into the cuisinart:
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 semolina
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pulse cuisinart a few times, then add
2 tablespoons olive oil
drizzle 2 tablespoons water, if needed to bring it all together.

 This whole process should take about a minute. Dust with just a little flour if it feels a little sticky as you pull your dough ball out of the food processor. Knead a couple of times into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap to rest on the counter for 30 minutes (or in the fridge for a day).

While the dough rested, I chopped up a few tomatoes, chiffonade some fresh basil and sprinkled with a pinch of kosher salt. Water at a gentle boil, I began to roll my dough. I have a pasta machine, but you can just as easily do this with a rolling pin. Starting on the largest setting, I worked my way to the thinnest setting. I ended up with long, wide ribbons of pasta that were done to perfection in about a minute. I tossed the pasta handkerchiefs with my tomatoes and dusted with fresh parmesan.  You can shape this recipe into whatever type of pasta you prefer.

Summer’s beautiful bounty!  Enjoy!

Bean dip in a flash

05 Tuesday Jun 2012

Posted by in beans, dip, recipes

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What do you do when at the last minute you invite a few friends over for cocktails?  No food in the house?  A few random cans of whatever.  Make bean dip.  Crazy easy and the bowl was emptied very quickly.  I called this a success.

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Throw everything in the bowl of a food processor and blend until smooth.  Leave a little texture if you want.
1 15z can black beans, rinsed
Generous sprinkle tandoori seasoning
Moderate sprinkle ancho chili powder (i’ll add a touch more next time)
Little sprinkle cayenne (ditto a bit more)
1/4c(ish) Greek yogurt
3T (ish) golden miso
1-2 oz salsa (as needed if you want it a little thinner. leave out if you want it thick)

Green is Good

04 Friday May 2012

Posted by in recipes

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Thursdays have turned into girl’s night.  Watch Mad Men, craft, giggle and bitch.  oh, and eat of course.  We each bring a snack to share.  You can usually tell what kind of day it’s been depending on what shows up.

This week I’ve been getting back to center after the madness of Rebuilding Together is done.  One evening a few weeks ago, Christa and I grabbed a multi-pack of flavored hummus-es (is there really a plural?).  One was Jalapeno Cilantro Hummus and it was the clear winner of the pack!  So, I’ve set about to come up with my own version and judging by it’s reception the 2 times I’ve made this now, I’ll say it’s a success.  and super easy!

Throw this all into the food processor and blend until smooth:
1 19z can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
juice of 2 small limes
1/3 cup tahini
1/4 cup canola oil
1 bunch of cilantro, just chop off lower stems and throw the rest in
1 medium jalapeno, I started with half the seeds and later added remaining seeds
salt to taste (I started w 2t)

Serve with chips or veggies.  Makes a perfect accompaniment for Margaritas 😉  Enjoy!

Lemony Lemon Ginger Scones

18 Wednesday Apr 2012

Posted by in baking

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Baking for a Cause: The Trilogy…

If it hadn’t been decided earlier (which I am sure it had) Lula’s Kitchen will never be a breakfast joint.  A) I’m not a huge fan of eating breakfast and B) I don’t like making breakfast.  And these past few weeks of baking for my big day of Rebuilding Together has confirmed, I don’t think I’m a fan of scones.  I’ve tried several recipes, some of which aren’t even worth a mention I was so disappointed.

Then I had the girls over for snacks and mimosas on Sunday and Megan summed it up best.  Scones are crispy pucks of dough.  I think that’s why I want such big flavors.  Because otherwise I’m eating the grown-up equivalent of kindergarten paste.  Boring and bad.  I’ll pass, thank you very much.

I did come up with a variation of Lemon Ginger Scone that is worth a word or two.  The girls seemed to approve, so I’ll share this little ditty.  I started with King Arthur’s Guaranteed Scone recipe.  It calls for 1-2 cups of add-ins so I added 1 cup of my candied lemon peel, which I diced nice and tiny.  I also added 1 cup of tiny candied ginger pieces.  I told you, I’m after BIG flavors.

I liked them best right out of the oven.  The instructions called for placing the scones in the freezer for 30 minutes before baking for a better rise.  I did half that way and half the batch right into the oven.  I had NO difference what so ever.  It may be that I started with frozen butter that I grated with my cheese grater instead of their cold butter cut in with a kitchenaid (which I don’t have).

With this recipe, I finally got moderately even shaped scones.  I patted my dough into a circle and cut pie wedges.  I also made my scones slightly smaller than all the recipes called for.  Most are just too big.

So, if you are looking for a good scone recipe, I’d say give this one a shot.  I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.  Especially if you like a bite that bites back!

Pass over the scones

16 Monday Apr 2012

Posted by in baking, recipes

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One of my favorite things about Passover is the charoset.  and truth be told, my charoset is the only reason I get invited to the Seders I do. 😉   I will admit, my charoset rocks!  I live off of it for a week.  It’s so easy to make, every year I think, why don’t I make this more often?

With my Baking for a Cause series, I thought about the flavors I love so much during Passover.  That, and I always buy too many apples.  I came up with the Cinnamon Apple Scone.

1/2 cup sugar
2 C. flour
2 t. (teaspoon) baking powder
2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
4 T (tablespoons) frozen butter, grated
1-2 red del grated, about a cup
1 eggs
1/3 cup buttermilk
dusting of flour for kneading

Glaze:
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
7T water
2t cinnamon

1. Preheat 425. Combine sugar, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Cut in butter with pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Beat egg in small bowl, and add buttermilk. Beat until well blended. Add egg mixture to flour mixture, stir until soft dough forms.

2. Turn out dough onto well floured surface, knead 10 times. Roll out dough into 9 x 6 rectangle with lightly floured rolling pin. Cut dough into 6 (3″) squares with lightly floured knife. Cut each square diagonally in half, making 12 triangles. Place triangles 2″ apart on ungreased baking sheet.  Bake 12-15 minuntes or until golden brown and wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack.

3. I took the icing technique and recipe(ish) from King Arthur.  Pour some of icing onto a parchment (I used my silpat) and plce the scone in the icing, swirling around to cover the bottom.  Then pour remaining icing over the top and use a baking brush to cover the scones with icing.

Enjoy!

little miss muffin

04 Wednesday Apr 2012

Posted by in baking, breakfast

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We surround ourselves with people who compliment us.  Of course we aren’t going to hang out with someone who constantly tells us how fat we are or how bad we look.  The other compliment.  Their skills and traits are a good balance for our skills.

I am the cook.  I am not the baker.  I have friends who bake.  I don’t like to measure.  Cooking is throwing a bit of this and bit of that into a pot and whammo- you’ve got gold!

I work with a great organization called Rebuilding Together that does home repair for low income elderly and disabled.  There are things going on throughout the year, but on the last Saturday of April every year there are roughly 50 houses being worked on.  that is 50 houses just in Portland alone.  This is going on across the country.

Each year, I solicit coffee and pastry donations from Starbucks.  This year, I decided I’m going to make pastries.  This is a huge endeavor for one unskilled as myself.  I figure if I bake 1 or 2 different muffin or scones a week for the next 3 weeks, then I’ll be set.  Throw them in the freezer and pull them out the day before.  (dirty little secret- that’s what your local bakery does for starbuck’s, so why can’t I?)

Tonight after doing a few chores and having a cocktail, I made Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins.  Thanks to google and the blogosphere I had a few good places to start.  I follow a lot of foodie folks and thanks to Annie’s Eats, I’m off to a good start.

I mostly followed the recipe.  Really no variations or strays I feel worth mentioning. I figured since I don’t want to kill my volunteers, I wouldn’t experiment too much.  I don’t want to brag, but I don’t think I messed this one up too badly.  We’ll see what the troops have to say on the big day.